Amusement ride



- Aug 20, l940- s. G. BARNARD 2,211,876l

AMUSEMEN'Jl RIDE Filedreb. 14, 19:58 2 sheets-sneer 1 INVENTOR @uw ATTORNEY? Patented Aug. 20, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT ori-ICE 4 Claims.

My invention relates to amusement devices and particularly to that class of device conventionallyl known as an amusement ride and which finds its greatest outlet in carnivals and other like travelling shows.

While the developments in this field are many there has been one objection common to sub-4 stantially all of the ride ramifications, the necessity for successive rather than simultaneous loading of the plural cars used. Stated otherwise, the.

exigencies of the compounded movements engineeredl into the machines have required that one loading platform be used from which the cars are loaded in turn. The major disadvantage of this delayed loading is of course the resulting loss of income during the periods of idleness but also of extreme import to the operators is distraction of onlookers attentionv by other amusements upon a failure to maintain, substantially constant, an atmosphere competitive to the condition of burly-burly pervading carnivals. n

'I'he present invention aims to overcome the above objection by providing an amusement ride which can be loaded in a fractional part of the time heretofore required by comparative machines, to provide a machine characterized by a movement more iiexible in its action and more positive in its control than the movements engineered into prior amusement rides, and in other o ways generally to perfect a machine which'will serve to more nearly meet the desire of the normal individual than has been possible with many 0f the so'ca'ued jack'in'the'box rides which in gear 36. A thrust bearing for the gear is indithe main have characterized the more recent amusement machines introduced. j

It isfmore particularlyran object of my. inven `tion to provide an amusement ride capable of producing a sensation equivalent to that experienced in toboggan runs, especially the banked turns thereof, and visualizing this, the foregoing objects and advantages, and others which will become apparent in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consists in the novel construction, adaptation and combination 5. of parte hereinafter described and claimed. l

In the drawings: f c Fig-ure 1 is a'n-elevational view of an amusement ride embodying my invention with parts being deleted to prevent confusion. l

Fig. 2 is afragmentary vertical section taken to an enlarged scale to. detail the structural rel'ation between operating parts.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal section 55 taken on the line 3-3 of Eig, 2.

Fig. -i=l is a detail transverse vertical section on the line 4 4 of Fig.- 1; andl Fig. 5 is la detail longitudinal vertical section. taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to these several views the numeral 6 5 represents a stationary tubular standard supported in an upright position from a horizontal X-fram base 1 of which the structural members are or may be of box formation.- About this standard a tube 8 is journaled for rotation sind 10 supported by this tube for movement about the fulcrums II of xed ,ifi-girders I0 area piurality of lattice-work lever members 9 operating as track-ways for cars 40. Such lever members are terminally upturned as at 9' to operate, at l5 thel inner end, as a cushioning stopfor limiting car travel and, at the outer end, as a bank under the force of extreme centrifugal movement. Between the jlb-girders are guys I3 and from the girders to a collar carried on the tube are stay 20 or'truss rods I2.

I6 denotes an elevating shaft splined for 'none rotary vertical -movement through a. head piece 31 xedly received in the standard 6 and this shaft is formed with a threaded lower end I6' 25 I fitting internal threads of a gear 36 which provides external spur teeth engaged by a pinion gear 35, the pinion being driven by a sha'ft 3| operated from a motor-driven horizontal shaft 30 through. intermeshing worm and worm wheel 3o gears 32-33. 26 represents the motor and 21a control box for obtaining opposite directional rotation. by the manual control lever 29, of said catedat 38.

Said motor and control box additionally Provide regulated rotation ofhthe tube-f3A through the instrumentality of a manual speed-governingA lever 28, the connecting structure comprising a driven horizontal shaft 25 acting through inter-f 40 meshing bevel gears 23-24 to drive a pinion shaft 2l, a gear 20 on this shaft `beirig Positioned by a bracket 22 in mesh with a spur wheel I8 flxedly secured'to the tube.

To provide connection between shaft I6 and said lever members 9 for collective operation of the latter about their respective fulcrums II I provide a spider I4 revolubly received in a bearing assembly Il tting the exposed end of the-shaft, the arms of the spider connecting 50 :ig rods I1 with the inner ends of the lever mem- Reverting to thecarstl designate by l2 later- Y ally extending double ack rails lupon which flanged car wheels are mbunted, the axles 43. 55 I the elevating 45 tions in the speed of the tube I or in the degree one at each end ofthe car, upon which these wheels are mounted being suitablyjournaled in the wing dependencies of a body frame which desirably is of an inverted U-shape in end elevation. Complementing the wheels 45 are 'secondary track wheels 4'l (detailed in Fig. 5) carried by horizontal axles, the axles being supported in journal boxes which are suspended by plunger rods 49 below the framewings, the wheels being yieldably held in tracking engagement tothe undersides of the tracks 52 by springs 4l.

Supportedvby the body frame is-the car body which is formed at each side of the lever member with open compartments, as 4i and, for the accommodation of passengers, these compartments being open at the "outer ends in the lprovision of entrance ways to the seats 43 Vwhich run lengthwise of the cars facing the' -direction of rotation of the machine. Hand-holds are designated rat 44. Rigidly secured to .the car bodies at each side of the lever members are one or more hangers 5i indicated as being disposed centrally of thecar. Guide wheels' IU Journaled in these hangers operate over angle-iron stringers which extend as corner barsior the levers.

In illustrating my amusement ride I have depicted a machine constituting one ot numerous embodiments well within the spirit of the invention, an invention broadly a departure fromprior machines in the art ot amusement rides. It is believed clear that' the operator, either by variaof tilt lof the lever members l, controls the physicalpowers of centrifugal and gravityior'ces to alter the position of the cars at will. Movement of the lever members ,'for example, to the uppermost `dotted-line position indica-ted by the letter a in Fig. 1 in conjunction with a Alow speed v of revolution positions the cars at the inner end of the car travel, from where increasing speed spirals the Acars outwardly to an extreme outer position whereat the same assume a high "bank" The high bank can be obtained with less rotary speed by lowering .the outer ends. of the lever members toward or into the 4fullfline position indicated bythe letter b. For loading purposesl .the arms occupy the dotted-line position repre- 1 horizontal axisand supported in radial relation to and revoluble about a vertical axis, a ca r for the track-way, drive means for rotating the trackway about said vertical axis for actuating the car outwardly under the motivating influence of centrifugal force, and manually-governed means independent of the drive means permitting the track-way to be tilted about its pivotal axis to variable angularities, selectively,

2. An amusement ride comprising, in combination, a series of track-ways disposed in' radiating relation" to and revoluble about a.

3. An amusement ride comprising. Incom-l bination. a series of track-ways pivoted on trans verse Ihorizontal axes and supported radially for revoluble movement about a common vertical axis. cars' for the respective track-ways, a source of power, a drive coupling between said source of power and the track-ways for collectively rotating the same, and .an operator-governed independent drive coupling between said source oi?V power and the track-ways for operating the same about-,their respective pivots to alterthe angularitiesof said ways. l. 4. An amusement ride comprising, in combination with a rotary stand, a series ofradiating arms revoluble with the stand and pivotally supported thereby for tilting movements about transverse horizontal axes, track-ways extending longitudinally of the several arms, cars for the respective track-ways, loading platforms disposed below the outer ends of the arms, a motor and connection therefrom to the stand for rotating the stand to drive the cars outwardly on the arms by centrifugal force, and motor-driven means connecting with the' arms for actuating the .same about' their respective pivots to collec.- tively lower the outer ends oi' the arms into Ipositions whereat'simultaneous loading of the several cars is permitted, j 1

' SAMUEL G.BAR N.ARD. 

